Cushioned Mini Orbital Detail Sanding Disks

After experimenting a lot I’ve come up with a sanding disk that works pretty well. I don’t know why someone didn’t come up with these before. The disks themselves are 3/8” in diameter. They’re made out of foam with 3M sandpaper laminated on with an adhesive backing. And they fit onto a custom mandrel.

This sanding device is made to be operated at a slow speed. The recommended operation speed is 1000-1500 RPM’s. A hand held screwdriver on high is a good example of the speed that is recommended.

They work good for fast removal in flat spaces and can be maneuvered around contours and into cracks. I make these with my CNC machine.

Here’s a video of the disk in action. It shows me sanding red oak using a 120 grit sanding disk: http://youtu.be/htkUKEE6bBg

I made some and am selling them on ebay but the link will expire one day: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181518996877...84.m1555.l2649

I’ve published, copyrighted and licensed this project under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

They look like they work well, Alan. Great price. I placed an order this morning...Always looking for ways to clean up my carvings....

Al those look great, I always have some tight spots that need sanding and It appears to be the trick. Maybe you should post them on the CW store section
too.

Perry B.

Alan, I also just placed an order looks to do a good job. Thanks for inventing and sharing

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Originally Posted by myshop1044

Al those look great, I always have some tight spots that need sanding and It appears to be the trick. Maybe you should post them on the CW store section
too.

Perry B.

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I'm not sure how to go about putting them on the Carvewright Store. But I'm still kind of in the development stage. I'm waiting on some samples of other types of foam. And I'm working on a stronger adhesive. Maybe in a few weeks I could look into that. Right now I'm going to make bigger sheets. If I go all out in production I would bag the disks up and ship out in small boxes. It's a lot of work putting the disks back into the foam sheets. But they ship easy that way.

Looks like a good idea. Less aggressive and easier to control than the mini mop. Will the mandrel fit the normal rotary tool? They can be slowed down.
Clint

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Originally Posted by cestout

Looks like a good idea. Less aggressive and easier to control than the mini mop. Will the mandrel fit the normal rotary tool? They can be slowed down.
Clint

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Yes you can put it in a rotary tool. That's what I do in my Fordom. The mandrel will fit any 1/8 inch rotary tool. If you run it on high speed the 3M sandpaper will drill a hole in your work. And running on low may be kind of touchy too. It depends on how slow you can get it to go, and how well you can control the sanding.

I have an old belt drive dental drill but it takes a larger mandrel. They were still using them until after I got out of the Air Force in '61. They use them in the lab now on dentures etc.
Clint

I've come up with a way to permanently attach the 7x 3M sandpaper to the foam. I've also begun to use a new foam called Poron Open Cell Urethane Foam.

Making these disks open source, means that anybody can make them, but nobody can Patent them. This new Foam that I'm using costs about $130 and I can make about 9000 little disks out of one sheet. The sandpaper costs money, as does the labels, bags, envelopes and adhesives. I drill the holes using a coring bit on my cnc machine. I found that the only way I can accurately punch through the sandpaper after drilling is to use a press, one at a time. That's where the labor costs comes into play. At .15 cents a piece I can make money doing this and it's worth the time. I'll see how it goes.

I think these disks work great. But I would not try to get a patent on it because it would cost many thousands of dollars to do (whatever they could squeeze out of me I suppose). And I don't have an automatic market for these. I would have to try and sell the idea to somebody who can create a market for them. And before that could happen somebody else would no doubt make a better product and knock this out of contention. So that's why I made it open source.

I plan on putting individual bags of 100 pieces in various grits on ebay in the next few days. But for today I have the Starter Pack up for sale that includes the mandrel. Here's the link.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cushioned-Mi...-/181550550215?

These disks don't get deep into holes and crevices though. But I've found a product that I use for this purpose. They're called sanding cones and I feel that they work more as a burnisher rather than a sander, but it gives good results. I use them on small hard to reach areas of a carve as well as to add burnished lines of detail between objects. Here's the link:

http://www.treelineusa.com/sanding/d...it-pkg-10.html

I had a thought.... With a core bit, and a carrier sled with side rails, could you get the CW to cut them out using the drill function? Setting the 1/8th inch drill function to go down without moving side to side with a core bit installed?

Nice Product !!!!

AL

Just ordered a set Alan. The first ones sold in your sheet form are working well. Thanks

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Originally Posted by Digitalwoodshop

I had a thought.... With a core bit, and a carrier sled with side rails, could you get the CW to cut them out using the drill function? Setting the 1/8th inch drill function to go down without moving side to side with a core bit installed?

Nice Product !!!!

AL

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You could do it like that. But the speed of the cut motor might start melting the foam. I'm not sure. I have my cnc hooked up to a Fordom Flex Shaft rotary tool to cut the holes and I run it at about 9000 rpm. You would have to stick the sandpaper onto the sled good enough to hold it but not so good that you can't take off all the pieces when it's done. And it would have to hit just right to keep the hole centered. Not an easy task. I haven't figured out a way to do that. To actually cut it all the way out with a bit without punching them out one at a time. They would get stuck in the bit etc.

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Originally Posted by Alan Malmstrom

You could do it like that. But the speed of the cut motor might start melting the foam. I'm not sure. I have my cnc hooked up to a Fordom Flex Shaft rotary tool to cut the holes and I run it at about 9000 rpm. You would have to stick the sandpaper onto the sled good enough to hold it but not so good that you can't take off all the pieces when it's done. And it would have to hit just right to keep the hole centered. Not an easy task. I haven't figured out a way to do that. To actually cut it all the way out with a bit without punching them out one at a time. They would get stuck in the bit etc.

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All very valid points... The CW is not really the way to go. Sounds like you are on to a really nice product...

Good Luck,

AL